


MEET CUTE

by rogueimperator



Series: AU Oneshots [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: AND SHENANIGANS, College Student Rey (Star Wars), F/M, First Dates, First Kiss, Fluff ensues, Meet-Cute, One Shot, Protective Ben Solo, bisexual reylo, no ragrets, phd student ben, rey gives only some fucks, they meet in the library
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2021-01-27 09:28:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21389899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rogueimperator/pseuds/rogueimperator
Summary: Ben had been watching her circle for the last twenty minutes— not, like, creepily watching, he thought. But every time he looked up she was wandering somewhere else. The second floor, the shitty Starbucks that he only visited out of sheer proximity and the necessity for caffeine. He took a long draw from the coffee he’d been sipping on since about five, and hoped she didn’t feel his eyes on her as he watched her step out of the elevator. There was someone with her though, although she honestly didn’t look like she wanted to talk to him. He was bent low to talk into her ear, and with each moment that passed Ben could see her face darken and her grip on her books tighten.__Rey tries to get homework done. Ben tries to help.
Relationships: Rey & Ben Solo, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: AU Oneshots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1542052
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	MEET CUTE

**Author's Note:**

> I'm trying to do more writing, not even for nanowrimo, but just cause. Part one of the college AU that i've been kicking around in my head and my google docs for the last two years.

MEET CUTE

Rey hefted her backpack over her shoulder and the sliding glass doors opened ahead of her as she entered Corellia University’s library. The stacks proper she knew were two floors above her, and she turned to her left, towards the front desk. It was the same guy there as every other night— probably a few years older than her, long dark hair, glasses, impossibly broad even from the waist up. 

“Hi,” she said as she stopped in front of the counter, digging her student ID out of her wallet. “I need to get a study room, please.” 

“All taken,” He said without even looking up. She peered over the counter to see what had him so occupied: Apocrypha? Whatever that was?

Rey frowned. “But it’s only six,” She protested. 

He shrugged. “Sorry. You’re not the only one who needs one.” 

Rey could only look at him, mouth falling slightly open. “Well, alright.” She shoved her ID back in her wallet and turned away to find somewhere else, determined not to be cowed. 

**

Ben had been watching her circle for the last twenty minutes— not, like, creepily watching, he thought. But every time he looked up she was wandering somewhere else. The second floor, the shitty Starbucks that he only visited out of sheer proximity and the necessity for caffeine. He took a long draw from the coffee he’d been sipping on since about five, and hoped she didn’t feel his eyes on her as he watched her step out of the elevator. There was someone with her though, although she honestly didn’t look like she wanted to talk to him. He was bent low to talk into her ear, and with each moment that passed Ben could see her face darken and her grip on her books tighten. 

She ducked behind a corner as the asshole turned around, and Ben craned his neck over his shoulder to see her hiding behind a poster advertising a talk on George Washington’s descendants this coming October. 

“Mitaka,” He hissed as he stood up. “Watch the front for a minute. I’ll be back.” He marked his place with a nearby pencil and slipped around the corner to where the girl was hiding. 

Mitaka jumped up from his station and took Ben’s seat as Ben slipped around the corner to come up beside her in the space behind the poster display. 

“Hey,” he started in a low voice, reaching a hand out for her. His fingertips brushed her shoulder and she jumped, covering her mouth to stop the yelp from escaping.  
He could count the freckles on her nose, and as his eyes met hers his mouth went a little dry. 

“Um,” he stared again, swallowing past the newly-formed lump in his throat. “I really hate to have to say this but do you need to get away from that guy? Tall asshole who won’t leave you alone?” 

That could describe you, he thought bitterly, but when she lowered the hand she gave him a small smile, and the lump grew. 

“Yeah, sorry. He’s been trying to chat me up for the last twenty minutes now.” 

Ben nodded, rolling over an idea in his head. “I noticed. If you follow me I can make sure he doesn’t bother you. I know that asshole and he does not like dealing with me.” 

She raised an eyebrow. “Oh really?” 

His cheeks flamed. He knew his ears were already red and was again glad for his longer hair. “Long story. Come sit with me behind the desk?” He jerked his thumb back towards the counter and hoped for the best. 

She sighed. “At this rate, it’s the best chance I have of getting work done.” She had a lilt to her voice that he couldn’t quite place, and she held her hand out to him by way of greeting. “I’m Rey.” 

Rey. Ray of sunshine, because that’s what her still-summer tanned skin and glittering hazel eyes made him think of. 

“I’m— Ben,” He took her hand in his and was awed by how small it felt against his own. He knew he was big but she was hardly frail. In fact, from the glances he’d previously stolen of her legs in those grey tie dye leggings she had to be an athlete of some kind. 

“So…” She looked over her shoulder again. “Shall we?” 

Ah, right. “Yes, we--we shall. Follow me.” He cursed the sudden dry mouth and his flaming ears. Sure she was attractive but that didn’t mean he had to be a complete and utter loon about it. That was the whole reason he was trying to help her anyways--the loon part, not the attractiveness. Not that it mattered, really, except… 

He rousted Mitaka from his occupied former seat and sent him to go re-shelve books on the third floor, pulling out the chair to his right for Rey to sit in. “Thanks,” she said again as she dropped her backpack on the floor next to her. “I hope you don’t mind if I spread out a little. I’ve got like five thermodynamics problems due tomorrow night that I wanted to get done early.” 

Thermodynamics? He looked at the cover of her textbook and then at the stack of graph paper and the brick-sized TI instruments calculator. Smart and hot. Goddamn it. 

She settled in quickly, plugging in her laptop and opening the lid, inserting a pair of lime-green earbuds into her phone (a two-generations old iPhone with a cactus on the case) and setting it between them. It sat there and Ben glanced at it occasionally, feeling as if it were a wall between them. There was no real need for them to really talk anymore, right? Right? 

He’d turned back to his own computer, answering some forgotten email from Dr. Kenobi about some deadline he’d missed when he saw a shape out of the corner of his eye that registered as vaguely familiar. 

It was that asshole, DJ, leaning over the desk and chattering at Rey about something and trying to get her attention. Ben felt a cold ripple of anger roll down his spine and he turned to DJ, clearing his throat. 

“Can I help you?” He asked coldly. Rey glanced at him before ducking her head back down to punch something into her calculator and scribble on her graph paper pad. 

“Oh, yeah, well, ya see, I was talking to the lady here,” DJ was resting his elbows on the counter directly in front of Rey, like he’d either not seen Ben or chosen to ignore him. Probably the latter. 

“If you need assistance with the library I can answer any question you have.” Ben’s tone brooked no argument. “Otherwise, my girlfriend needs to study, and I’m not in a forgiving mood right now, so I’d suggest you leave us alone.” He finished the sentence with a hard glare and his hand over Rey’s on her calculator. She looked up and around when he put his hand on hers, and Ben laced his fingers with hers and squeezed ever so slightly. 

DJ grumbled something in the way of an apology and turned away. Ben watched him stone faced as he shuffled away from the desk and through the sliding doors into the night. 

He released her hand as the doors hissed closed. She pulled her earbuds out and shot him a look. “You called me your girlfriend.” 

“Yeah,” his ears got red again. “Sorry about that. It just came out.” 

She shrugged. “I mean it worked. And you’re not a bad looking guy either, so I’m not going to complain.” 

At that moment, Ben could have--wanted to--kiss her, but that would be inappropriate. Especially considering the harassment she’d dealt with today. 

“So, um.” He raked a hand through his hair and she turned her full attention towards him. “Thermodynamics, huh?” He was so bad at this, he knew it, so so bad, why would she even respond to that— 

“Yeah, it’s pretty interesting. It’s one of my major classes for mechanical engineering. Plus, I work at a car dealership so there are some things— not thermodynamics obviously, but like engine construction and how to build and rebuild machines, that I see on a daily basis and it helps a lot, given that my scholarship depends on my grades staying over a 3.7.” She turned in her seat to put her full focus on him. “What about you?” 

“Well, um, I’m working on my PhD right now,” he started. 

“Oh wow.” Rey leaned one elbow on the counter and rested her chin in her palm. “What’s it about?” 

Ben took a breath, deciding that if she wanted to know he’d go ahead and tell her. “Syncretism between the Catholic church and pagan Ireland and how that affected the lore of saints as well as common ritual practices in the early medieval period.”

She blinked. “That’s a lot.” 

“Yeah,” he looked at the time and cursed that he still had two more hours before the library closed. Because the more he thought about it the more he wanted to be near her and he knew he couldn’t just sequester her behind the reference desk forever. “My grandfather was a priest and he helps me a lot with some of the more obscure theological stuff.” 

“That’s sweet,” The corners of her lips turned up in a wistful smile. “Do you get to talk to him often?” 

“I live in his basement, actually, so yes.” 

“Oh! What’s that like?” 

They talked until the bell signaling the library’s closing time chimed, and Rey dove for her backpack to pack her stuff up. 

“Thank you for saving me tonight, Sir Ben.” She grinned. “Would you want to get Waffle Hut with me? I’m starving.” 

Ben blinked. “Oh, um, yeah sure, I can eat.” 

“Excellent!” Rey zipped her bag up and plopped it on the table. “My treat, I’m ready when you are.”  
**

She waited in her seat until he came out from the library’s offices with a worn-looking messenger bag slung over his shoulder and wearing a long black leather coat. She noticed for the first time that he was in fact wearing all black--the coat along with slim cut jeans and a long-sleeved V neck sweater. It did things to her. Things she didn’t expect it to. Especially the way the emergency light cast his face and his chest in partial shadow. He looked like something out of one of those vampire dramas Finn and Poe liked to watch, except better by virtue of being a real person. 

He dug a set of keys out of his pocket, and she wished for a moment he wasn’t wearing a goddamn duster so she could get a better view of his ass. 

“Ready to go?” He asked, the rumble of his voice affecting her as much as the damn v-neck. She honestly hadn’t been able to get much homework done after the “girlfriend” word came out of his mouth. He must not have been seeing someone for him to claim her like that so easily, even if it was just to get that guy off her back. 

“Oh, yeah, sorry.” She hitched her backpack onto her shoulder and followed him out the door. The interior of the library was almost completely black, save a few emergency lights that provided beams of illumination here and there. 

“I’ll drive?” she asked as they crossed the staff parking lot. Ben shrugged, and Rey pulled her own keys out as she sped up to keep pace with him. She fought the urge to hold his hand again, although the night was already getting chilly and she knew almost instinctively he’d be warm. 

She stopped in front of her car, a tiny green Volkswagen Cabriolet convertible. When she unlocked the door, Ben dropped in as best he could into the passenger seat, pushing the seat all the way back. Somehow he still looked cramped. Rey considered for a moment putting the top down, but realized that wouldn’t do anything for his knees being practically up to his ears. His adorable ears, she thought. She’d seen the way they’d turned fire engine red earlier and had found it rather endearing. 

“Are you sure you’re comfortable?” She asked. Ben nodded, and she cranked the engine and shifted into gear. 

“You drive stick?” He asked by way of conversation. Rey nodded, pulling out of the parking lot. 

“I actually learned how to drive on a stick. Didn’t drive automatic for the first time till I got to college.” 

“Wow, I bet your dad must be proud.” 

At this Rey felt her heart drop. She hated having to do this with new people— the rehashing of her traumatic childhood, how she’d been just a part of the State of New Mexico foster system until she’d by some miracle landed in Maz’s care at fifteen and then by some other miracle landed a full ride scholarship to one of the best colleges in New England. 

“I don’t have a dad.” She forced herself to plow through it anyways. “I’m adopted. My guardian Maz taught me.” 

“Oh,” There was a tinge of regret in his voice. “I’m sorry.” 

Rey shrugged as they pulled into the Waffle Hut parking lot. “It is what it is. I’m really grateful for Maz’s presence in my life, and I try to get back home to see her as much as I can. It’s just hard with work and school.” 

She cut the car off and stepped out, leaning back inside to grin at him. “You coming?” 

**

She ate like a fiend, Ben thought. She’d ordered a huge burger and fries and had demolished most of it by the time he’d picked through his scrambled eggs. He found himself more than comfortable sharing about his own life— how he’d been a “troubled youth” with a fraught relationship with his parents, and what got him sent to live with his uncle on his dairy farm in Wisconsin before his grandfather had appeared out of the woodwork to take him in (“Some petty arson and destruction of property, as well as being around the wrong people.”), and how his natural interest in history as well as a deep seated suspicion of organized religion had dovetailed into an undergrad thesis in European history, then a master’s degree on early medieval culture until it culminated with the bulk of his PhD research. He told her about how Anakin had helped him learn Latin for his oral exams, and how they would end up in late night arguments about the finer points of Catholic theology, such as why the Apocrypha were omitted from the current iteration of the bible, which he explained was the reason she’d caught him reading it earlier. She listened to all this raptly, although at the speed she was eating he was afraid that if she opened her mouth to say something she’d literally inhale her burger and choke on it— a situation he was not mentally prepared for.

She pulled a napkin out of the container between them and wiped her mouth with it. Ben followed the movement with his eyes and thus was jerked back to reality with her next question: 

“So are you single?” 

“I—Yes. I am. My last--relationship, if you can call it that, didn’t end well. I’m not on speaking terms with him anymore. So it’s been a while.” 

“Him?” Rey cocked an eyebrow at him. 

“Yeah,” He clenched and unclenched his fist. “I’m bisexual.”

“Oh,” Rey returned to her burger as if him coming out to her was the most natural thing in the world. “Me too.” 

He let go a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “I don’t usually make a big deal about it, so, yeah.” Then why had he been so anxious about telling her? A quandary for another time, he decided. 

Rey had turned to get their waitress’s attention with a smile, and gave her her debit card. “Yeah, same. My roommates are a gay couple and my best friend is also bi. I like to joke that we attract each other. Like spidey-sense.” 

Ben couldn’t help the grin that split his face at that. Spidey sense indeed. She scribbled on both receipts and kept one, and stood up from the table, stretching her arms above her head in wide yawn. The hem of her sweater rose up just enough for Ben to see a purple-capped belly button ring for a split second before she fixed her sweatshirt back into place. He definitely wasn’t going to get any sleep tonight, that was for certain. 

As they left the diner he rested his hand on her lower back and opened the car door for her after she unlocked it. When they crossed back onto campus, she asked, “What are you doing the rest of the night?” 

“Honestly, probably just going home. I’m sure Grampa is still up. Someone’s gotta keep the old coot company,” he deadpanned. 

Rey nodded slowly. “Where are you parked?” 

“Library staff lot,” he answered, sensing their time together was coming to an end. He desperately wished it wouldn’t. 

She pulled in as far as the gate that blocked the lot off from students and visitors. “So I suppose this is your stop,” she began. 

“Looks like it.” Ben scooped his bag into his lap and sighed. 

“Hey Ben?” Rey asked. She stared ahead, only turning her head slightly to look at him. Her fist was balled up in her lap. 

“Yeah?” 

“This whole night has felt like an impromptu date. Can I kiss you?” 

He could have crowed. Oh hell yes, he thought, and before he could think to get the word yes out, he unbuckled, and leaned over the console to slot his mouth over hers. 

She still tasted slightly like cola and bacon cheeseburger— he didn’t mind. Her tongue slipped over his lips and he parted his mouth for her, and he shifted to cup her face in his hands. She slipped one hand into his hair and the other into his jacket to slide around his chest, and he moaned softly— he’d become almost immediately hard, and oh how he wanted to do more than just kiss her too—

She pulled away suddenly, as if she could sense his arousal and was somehow rebuffed by it. By the light of the streetlamp he could see her face was flushed, her neck reddened by the scrape of the vinyl seatbelt against her skin. He wanted to kiss that spot. He caught himself licking his lips and stopped himself before he made more of a fool of himself. 

“So i’ll be seeing you around then?” She asked. There was a wry look in her eye, and he wondered how soon it would be when he saw her next. If she had something up her sleeve. 

“I— yeah, yes, you will. Hopefully.” 

She gave him a genuine, sweet smile. He could have died right there and been satisfied with his entire life til this point. She pressed a last, closed mouth kiss to his lips before starting the car up again. “Good night, Ben. Be safe out there.” 

Ben tumbled out of the tiny car, painfully aware of the longness of his limbs, his general largeness. “I would tell you to text me when you get home, but I don’t have your number.” He leaned against the open car door as he spoke, bending at the waist to try and still be able to see her. “But, um, I don’t—” 

“Jacket pocket,” She answered slyly. 

Ben straightened up and reached into the inner breast pocket. Tucked into the fabric was the second Waffle Hut receipt, and a number scrawled on it in half-print, half-cursive: Text me sometime, Sir Ben. 505-555-3739. Girlfriend Rey. 

He chuckled as he read the note. “You got me. I’ll text you.” 

“You better,” She shifted into gear and he closed the door. “I’ll see you soon?” 

“Yeah, definitely.” He backed away as she reversed out of the parking lot, then sped away into the night. 

He looked again at the receipt in his hand. Tucked it back in the same pocket for safe keeping, and as he drove out into the country and back home, he rolled over the events of the night. When he got to the ranch house on the hill that he shared with Anakin, he pulled the Subaru into the garage and pulled out his phone. As the door closed behind him, he entered her number and saved it under just her first name, Rey. Then he typed out a message, hitting send before he had the chance to overthink it. 

I had a really good time with you tonight. Would like to kiss you again very soon. Goodnight, Ben. 

He got out of the shower almost forty five minutes later to see her immediate reply: I’d like that :) just tell me when and I’ll be there. 

He crawled into bed without replying, because he was sure she’d be asleep and he refused to be the reason she lost sleep on a school night. 

But when he woke up, there was one more message waiting for him: I get out of ME 3315 at two. Lunch? 

His answer was a very emphatic yes.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!! Feedback is always appreciated. 
> 
> Find me on tumblr at rogue-imperator on twitter at @amyy_spalding. As always I am deeply, deeply indebted to the beautiful tumblr user roguedawn, who has been a steadfast sounding board and source of inspiration as well as one of my best friends. Give her a follow too :)


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